PHARMACEUTICALS
Lilly’s Mounjaro overtakes Keytruda as world’s top-selling drug
Eli Lilly & Co.’s blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro has surpassed Merck & Co.’s cancer therapy Keytruda as the world’s best-selling medication. Mounjaro generated $8.7 billion for Lilly in the first quarter of 2026, outperforming Merck’s Keytruda, which posted sales of $7.9 billion. Keytruda has been the world’s top-selling drug since the first quarter of 2023, when it displaced AbbVie Inc.’s autoimmune disorder drug Humira. Lilly is doing even better if both Mounjaro and its weight-loss drug Zepbound are considered together. They use the same active ingredient, known as tirzepatide. The combination generated $36.5 billion in 2025, outpacing Keytruda’s $31.6 billion for the year. Analysts have predicted for years that Lilly’s drugs would be among the best-selling medicines of all time, though they came to market after Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy. Lilly’s sales have continued to skyrocket even as copycat medicines were launched during shortages and despite pressure from the Trump administration’s affordability push pressured prices in the GLP-1 market. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
TRAVEL
Disney posts strong earnings despite slowdown in park visitors
Add weak theme park attendance to the long list of challenges facing Disney’s new chief executive. Josh D’Amaro, who took over Disney in March, publicly faced Wall Street for the first time Wednesday, reporting quarterly earnings that exceeded analyst expectations. Investors liked what they heard, especially regarding streaming profit growth; Disney shares climbed 8 percent in morning trading, helped by a broader Dow Jones Industrial Average rally. Even so, Disney reported a rare decrease in attendance at its theme parks in Florida and California. The decline was small — only 1 percent compared with the same quarter last year. But its parks are closely watched as a bellwether for consumer confidence. When a core metric like attendance weakens, it can be a sign that people are pessimistic about the economy. Are higher gasoline (including airline) prices prompting fewer pilgrimages to see Mickey? Have Disney’s own price increases dented demand? Are there fewer travelers from overseas, part of a decline in international tourism across the United States since President Trump returned to office? Is there a shortage of new rides? D’Amaro and Hugh Johnston, Disney’s chief financial officer, blamed international travel and competition in Florida with Epic Universe, a new NBCUniversal theme park. “We recognize that domestic attendance is an important metric for investors, and we’re focused on it as well,” Johnston told analysts on a conference call. “The good news is, as we look forward, we expect growth to improve in the back half, and our forward bookings are very encouraging as we look to the rest of the year.” — NEW YORK TIMES
TECH
Some iPhone owners could get up to $95 payment after Apple agrees to settle case for $250 million
Owners of some iPhones are in line to get cash payments of up to $95 from Apple after the company on Tuesday reached a $250 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit for false advertising of its artificial intelligence capabilities. Apple trumpeted new AI features for its virtual assistant Siri when it rolled out the iPhone 16 in 2024, part of new software updates that the company billed as “Apple Intelligence.” The company has been scrambling to keep up with tech rivals amid the AI boom but still hasn’t delivered on the Siri revamp two years later. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of US consumers in the San Francisco federal court for the Northern District of California, alleged that Apple deceived consumers with a marketing campaign that promoted features that did not yet exist and misled them into buying the devices. Lawyers for the iPhone buyers asked a court for preliminary approval of the proposed $250 million settlement, according to a court filling. If approved by a judge, it would be one of the biggest ever for Apple. The settlement covers about 37 million devices bought in the United States between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025, including all iPhone 16 models and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Owners are eligible for a payment of at least $25 for each device, and that amount could go up to $95 depending on how many claims are filed “and other factors,” the filing said. Customers will be notified by email or mail that they can file a claim on a settlement website, it said. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
VAPING
FDA announces its first OK of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes for adults in major shift under Trump
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced its first authorization of fruit-flavored electronic cigarettes intended for adult smokers, a major policy shift that comes after months of appeals to President Trump from the vaping industry. The decision is certain to be opposed by health groups and parent organizations that have long pointed to flavors as the driver behind underage vaping in the US. But the federal action comes as teen vaping rates have dropped to a 10-year low and manufacturers have pushed the Republican administration to loosen restrictions on their products. Vaping companies have long made the case that their products can help blunt the toll of smoking among adults, which is blamed for 480,000 US deaths annually due to cancer, lung disease, and heart disease. The battery-powered devices have been sold in the US since 2007, but their potential benefits have been overshadowed for years by uptake among middle and high school students. The newly authorized e-cigarettes come in mango, blueberry, and two varieties of menthol. Los Angeles-based vaping company Glas Inc. plans to market the flavors under the names Gold, Sapphire, Classic Menthol, and Fresh Menthol, according to the FDA release. Previously the FDA had only granted permission to tobacco or menthol-flavored vaping products. Most e-cigarettes OK’d by regulators come from large manufacturers, including Juul and Altria. Tuesday’s announcement is not an approval or endorsement, and the FDA reiterated that the Glas vapes are only intended for adults interested in quitting or cutting back on cigarettes. The FDA suggested the company’s digital age-verification system makes it unlikely the products will be picked up by underage users. Users must first verify their age with a government ID on their cellphone. The e-cigarettes can then only be used when connected via Bluetooth to the phone of the verified user. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEDIA
US rights agency sues New York Times for discriminating against white man passed over for promotion
A federal civil rights agency filed a discrimination lawsuit Tuesday against the New York Times, claiming that the news organization passed over a white male employee for a promotion in favor of a lesser qualified woman to meet its diversity goals. The New York Times called the lawsuit politically motivated and said it would defend itself “vigorously.” The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a New York Times editor who lodged a complaint after he didn’t get the role of deputy real estate editor in 2025, alleging gender and racial discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, national origin, or religion. The EEOC claimed the news organization’s publicly stated goals of increasing the number of women and people of color in its leadership ranks influenced the decision to exclude the white male applicant for a final round of interviews, while advancing three women and a Black man. EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, has been a staunch champion of the Trump administration’s campaign against corporate diversity policies that she argues veer into discrimination against white men and others. In December, Lucas posted a social media call urging white men to come forward with complaints if they believe they have faced discrimination because of their employer’s diversity policies. “No one is above the law — including ‘elite’ institutions. There is no such thing as ‘reverse discrimination;’ all race or sex discrimination is equally unlawful, according to long-established civil rights principles," Lucas said in a statement. The New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the EEOC “deviated from standard practices in highly unusual ways. The allegation centers on a single personnel decision for one of over 100 deputy positions across the newsroom, yet the EEOC’s filing makes sweeping claims that ignore the facts to fit a predetermined narrative.” “Neither race nor gender played a role in this decision — we hired the most qualified candidate, and she is an excellent editor,” Rhoades Ha added. — ASSOCIATED PRESS